Lost Religion of Carda
It's funny, all the things war takes with it beyond just the death toll. Do the gnomes have gods, mourning their missing followers? Did they worship nature like the Frostmerites? Were their temples gold coins and profit, like the Rylanders? When it became clear that all was lost, to whom or what did they pray?The Queen's War claimed more than can ever really be known. The names of the dead will never truly be tallied, the cities razed were quickly forgotten, and the knowledge lost to bloody conquest shall never be recovered. The gnomes know this lesson all too well. In life, the people of Carda were deeply isolationist. They kept to their borders, rarely left their clockwork empire, and when they did, the last thing they cared to speak about was their religion. During the evacuation of the empire, anyone old enough to carry a weapon willingly took to the front lines. There they stood against the ravenous horde of the Sahuagin, the Autumn Queen's allies, as well as the fae's Shadow Court. Every brave soul who marched into an impossible battle did so without hope for victory, nor even the chance to see another sunrise. Their goal was purely to buy another hour, even another minute, for the youngest generation. Those who escaped were far too young to have any meaningful amount of knowledge about their culture or history, including their faith. Stockpiles of books would only have slowed them down and taken up the space needed for treasure... bribes to pay the way for these refugees. A small handful of the original Clankers went along as protectors, but few of them survived the journey. And many of them willingly purged their mind of memories of Carda, instead making room for battle protoclas, warrior instincts, and any other skills that would help them ward off the dangers that would come for the gnome children. Their lone purpose became keeping the species from extinction; nothing else mattered. Even with the few surviving records and partially intact Clanker cogitors, there is little in the way of a complete picture regarding the gnome faith. A few generalities do exist and are agreed upon across several sources. One, gnomes had a deep reverence for their ancestors. Two, there was a belief that after death, the soul went on a long journey through a place called The Crossways. On this journey, a soul might find eternal peace, begin a new mortal life, or fall prey to any number of dangers. Three, family Name Books were considered holy texts and contained the lineage of an entire bloodline. Even these facts are unknown to all but the most well-studied historian, gnome or otherwise. There is a growing movement within the new gnome homeland of Homestead to rediscover their lost culture, including relics of their faith. For example, some Name Books were sent along with the children, but the majority were hidden or locked away in family estates with the hope that future generations would return to reclaim them. These are highly sought after, and unfortunately, they are often forged by unscrupulous con men looking to dupe gnomes who are eager to find pieces of the past. Some of the gnomish efforts are paying off, though, and each year more fragments return to Homestead. However, the real challenge is piecing them together accurately. One need only consider how insurmountable a task it would be to rebuild an image of your culture from only a handful of random items and writings. For now, gnomes who care about such things have taken to venerating their ancestors in whatever fashion they can. Even past gnomes with no bloodline connection, for every name from the final days is a name that sacrificed everything so they might live. Modern worship among the gnomes looks like communal gatherings where names are spoken (many of which haven't been uttered in centuries), their stories are told, and candles are lit. Some of this comes from bits of scavenged history; other parts are invented to fill in the rest. There have been rumors, wild and mostly baseless, about gnomes who can channel the love, knowledge, and wrath of the ancestors to manifest miracles. These stories are similar to the kind of tales told about clerics and paladins of time before The Queen's Rebuke. There is no credible source for such rumors, but they offer some comfort nonetheless.
Structure
Whatever the hierarchy of the faith was, it's mostly lost to time. There are a few references in surviving materials to what may be types of "priests". The word Shekla seems to come up frequently, but it's not known if this is an official title or simply a reference to someone of strong faith who spoke for the dead. Assuming the translation is correct, it means Voice Giver or Speaker for the Dead. Its possible this was not a religious position but simply the designation for people who shared stories during funerals.
Public Agenda
Based on what is known, the seeming agenda of the faith was to honor the deeds, sacrifice, and wisdom of those who have already passed. The gnomes' origin begins somewhere beyond Tairos, likely a world that fell to the Autumn Queen. Many gnomes are lost to dead worlds and dark pathways between them. This religion seeks to honor the road these lost gnomes paved. And, to venerate those who came after.
Additionally, the gnomes believed in a place called the Crossways, something arcane scholars would refer to as the ethereal plane or the spirit world. Much of the focus of worship seemed to be around helping the dead navigate the Crossways and find either eternal peace or a path back into life via reincarnation. The faith also seemed to allow for the living to speak through the Crossways to their loved ones and to hear their voices spoken back.
History
It's unknown if this faith was the original faith of the gnomes carried with them from their homeworld, or if it was created during the exodus and on the way to Tairos. There are references in historical texts that mention gnomes referring to their ancestors and the veneration they hold for them as the foundation of their identity. Some scholars have taken to calling the faith Foundationism and the followers Foundationists, but this is a niche fact known by few and with little verifiable evidence.
Disbandment
The faith was considered defunct as soon as Carda fell to the Fae and Sahaugin
Mythology & Lore
The remnants of Gnomish religion offer little insight into the mythology of the people, including creation myths, great heroes, foundational events, or even cornerstones of belief. Those who speculate that this religion was born during the exodus of the gnomes from their homeworld reason that much of the expected lore rests firmly with that originating religion. This doesn't seem to be a case of one religion superseding another, but rather the original faith being inaccessible and a new one being created to fill its place.
New heroes, myths, and moral guidance were likely to have come about on the road between worlds. Thus making many of these events less apocryphal and more recent history.
Cosmological Views
The only cosmological detail to survive the fall of Carda is the mention of the Crossways, a Gnomish belief in a spirit world that acts as an intermediary between the living world and the eternal peace a soul may seek. The College of Magic corroborates the existence of an ethereal plane where living souls often dwell for a time, so this is an agreed-upon fact. Gnomish faith appears to view this place as a realm of decision-making and self-discovery for the soul. Where the dead confront the memories of their life, avoid potential pitfalls, and ultimately choose whether to move on to some eternal peace, or to reincarnate into a new life.
The few modern practitioners of magic are aware of a terrible disturbance impacting the ethereal plane, leaving it as a ruinous mirror of the living world where souls seem to become stuck and driven mad. It's likely the gnomes knew about the impact the creation of Manacite was having long before the rest of the continent did. If their religion had the means to help souls find their way through this spiritual nightmare, it is possibly unknown, but it seems likely they'd have been the best suited for such a task. Unfortunately, if such a thing were possible, it is now lost, like so much of their culture.
Tenets of Faith
These are lost but it can be assumed they would have been focused around honoring those who passed, helping them find their way through the Crossways, and calling upon the wisdom of the dead to guide the living.
Worship
It is difficult to say, but fragmentary bits and third-party accounts suggest that some central structures were built for communal veneration of the dead. These seemed like shrines meant to host funerary events, annual remembrances, and to store the name books of families whose bloodlines have perished. Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest that the majority of worship was conducted at home, often around family shrines built around the family name books.
Priesthood
If the Shekla, as mentioned earlier, are actually part of the organized religion, they would be considered the priesthood. It's possible there was no traditional organized religion or priesthood, but rather community traditions and rotating roles. One can look at the Frostmerites and their skalds or gothi to understand how faith can focus on family, stories, and virtues versus organized faith.
Granted Divine Powers
If the gnomes were able to draw upon the power of their ancestors, it seems reasonable to assume that the granted boons would have focused on life, knowledge, invention, and protection.
Sects
Very likely, but without more surviving fragments, it's impossible to tell. One can assume that there would be gnomes who may have kept the homeworld faith or took on the religion of other worlds they visited before Tairos.
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